Articolo disponibile anche in: Italian
Everybody stops in Castellina when they are touring Chianti, especially during the summer when you can reach 600 meters in altitude and breathe some fresh country air.
The gelateria, “Antica Delizia” (today “Gelateria di Castellina”), is an important point of reference during these travels.
Castellina is attractive for its landscape and lovely historic center as well as its architectural jewel, via delle Volte. It offers an archaeological museum which attracts more than 10.000 visitors yearly and a fascinating Etruscan sight in Montecalvario. Castellina is full of wine cellars and direct wine sales from some of the most well-known wineries in the world.
But the most asked questions of acquaintances and colleagues is always, “Where can I find a good, open gelateria in Castellina?”.
Simone Municchi and his wife began their ice cream journey in the town, thanks to a series of choices and situations. Florentine by birth, then raised in San Frediano e Sieci in the township of Pontassieve, Simone tried a variety of jobs in hospitality and leather goods and discovered that the production and direct sale of homemade gelato was a winning professional opportunity and something that would become a life of passion.
If, as Simone proclaims, the quality of gelato needs to be created with harmony and equilibrium and the correct balance of ingredients, we can imagine him wearing the hat of the alchemist. He is precise about the healthiness of his ingredients as well as to the quality and taste and the aesthetics of the final results.
“Gelateria di Castellina” offers a rich and varied menu. It showcases 24 flavors, most of them classic, Using fresh seasonal fruit fruit, often at 0 kilometers (figs, blackberries, “uva fragola”), he sometimes uses frozen fruit “when and if it is good”, he says with the frankness and serenity of someone who has nothing to hide.
The gelateria also sells ice cream on a stick and in original form, or delicious miniatures: ice cream cakes, seasonal ices and granite. Cakes are also made to order.
Sometimes, you can find crazy flavors which can be created only by someone who knows what they are doing. You can also find their ice cream in the Castellina area.
They opened a new workshop/store in via IV novembre, next to the building of the ex-agrarian consortium of Castellina. This is a solution which, thanks to the availability of open spaces, will allow clients to eat their ice cream at a table and, for the little ones, offer the possibility of using a play area furnished especially for them.
Cosimo Ciampoli